I have fond memories of this infamously stinky fruit. It’s a favorite of my mothers, and she will fight you for the last piece. It’s been years since I’ve had one, but thanks to the global food market, my friend Anthony delivered one, frozen, to my doorstep. I gathered a coalition of the brave and willing and sliced into it.

Unfortunately, I don’t think I like durians anymore. This specimen tasted like a rotten onion and I couldn’t take more than a few bites. Perhaps it was underripe–it didn’t have the custardy texture I remembered. Or maybe freezing doesn’t do the poor fruit any favors.

Still, how many people in this part of the world have the distinction of receiving a durian for their birthday? For the sheer surprise factor, you can’t beat that.

Judging from the picture and reading poor Tisha‘s account, I can safely conclude the durian was not ripe. It doesn’t help that she got the durian FROZEN with the shell intact – something unheard of in this part of the world. The way the fruit was cut probably contributed to the bad experience as well lah.

BTW, here’s a video of another Caucasian family eating durian by sawing it half in the middle:

As a foreigner even I find the sight a durian cut like that bizarre to say the least. I do have to defend frozen durian though. Yes it’s no where near as good frozen as it is fresh but getting un-frozen durian shipped overseas is nearly impossible. Until someone starts a durian friendly air line frozen is the best most of us can find.